Car track

ABSTRACT

The invention provides a toy comprising a track adapted to support a wheeled vehicle and to guide it in a closed path, and a plurality of powered wheeled vehicles to run on said track, each vehicle being provided at its leading end with cam means adapted to coact with the cam means of another such vehicle, when they meet head-on, and cause the leading end of one vehicle to commence to ride up and over the leading end of the other vehicle, the vehicles being shaped such that said one vehicle may ride completely over said other vehicle and down onto the track.

United States Patent [191 1 3,736,7dfi

Kiizumi 1 1 June 5, 1973 CAR TRACK Primar ExaminerLouis G. Mancene 1 1Rkh .Y [75] nven or 1 1 achiro Knzumi, Tokyo, Japan Assistant Examiner lQ Lever [73] Assignee: Cosmo Toys Manufactory Limited, rney-Willi mAnthony Drucker Taikoktsiu, Kowloon, Hong Kong [57] ABSTRACT [22] Filed:Aug. 30, 1971 Appl. No.: 176,004

The invention provides a toy comprising a track adapted to support awheeled vehicle and to guide it in a closed path, and a plurality ofpowered wheeled vehicles to run on said track, each vehicle beingprovided at its leading end with cam means adapted to coact with the cammeans of another such vehicle, when they meet head-on, and cause theleading end of one vehicle to commence to ride up and over the leadingend of the other vehicle, the vehicles being shaped such that said onevehicle may ride completely over said other vehicle and down onto thetrack.

4 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures CAR TRACK This invention relates to a toywith a track and wheeled vehicles, its object being to provide animproved construction in which, when two vehicles meet head-on, onevehicle may ride completely over the other vehicle and down again ontothe track.

According to the present invention a toy comprises a track adapted tosupport a wheeled vehicle and to guide it in a closed path, and two ormore powered wheeled vehicles to run on said track, each vehicle beingprovided at its leading end with cam means adapted to coact with the cammeans of the other or another such vehicle, when they meet head-on, andcause the heading end of one vehicle to commence to ride up and over theleading end of the other vehicle, the vehicles being so shaped that saidone vehicle may ride completely over said other vehicle and down ontothe track. To assist in keeping the climbing vehicle in correct alignedposition during the climbing-over operation, such vehicle isadvantageously formed at its upper part with a supporting surface andwith transversely spaced side walls to guide the wheels of the climbingvehicle contacting said supporting surface.

As so far described, the toy provides the simple function that, when thetwo vehicles meet at any point, one vehicle will ride up and over theother.

In a preferred embodiment, the track comprises a stop means having araised position in which it projects above the level of the supportsurface of the track sufficiently to be engaged by a portion of avehicle, to halt the vehicle. The stop means also has a lowered positionin which it is withdrawn from engagement by the portion of the vehicle.Actuator means are positioned at a distance along the track from thestop means and are coupled thereto. The actuator means are positioned onthe track so as to be abutted and moved by another vehicle and therebylower the stop means to release the first vehicle. It is preferred tohave the stop means urged by loading to rest in its raised position.

The track may further comprise, at a position thereon longitudinallybetween the stop means and the actuator means, (i) a depression toreceive the front wheels of a vehicle and cause the cam means of thatvehicle to be lowered in relation to the cam means of another vehicleapproaching head on, and/or (ii) a ramp to receive thereon the frontwheels of a vehicle and cause the cam means of that vehicle to be raisedin relation to the cam means of another vehicle approaching head-on.Both of such formations result in positive relative vertical shifting ofthe approaching pair of cam means, to ensure that one vehicle willalways move in a predictable manner in relation to the other.

The track may be provided with deflectors which are movable, e.g.manually into each of two end positions for guiding a vehicle along aselected one of two alternative paths.

The track may advantageously be composed of portions having meanswhereby they can be secured releasably together.

In order that the nature of the invention may be readily ascertained, anembodiment in accordance therewith is now described with reference tothe accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a track, with two cars on it;

FIG. 2 is a vertical section of a part of thetrack, to

show a first manner of operation of a braking device;

FIG. 3 is a vertical section of the same part of the track as in FIG. 2,to show a second manner of operation of the braking device.

The track shown in FIG. 1 has curved portions 1, straight portion 2, abridge portion 3, branching-off portions 4, and braking portions 5. Allof the portions have a running surface 6 defined between parallel sidewalls 7. The portions are secured releasably together by engagement ofcenter tongues 8 of one portion in a center recess 9 of the neighboringportion, and by engagement of other tongues (not shown) spaced at eachside of the center tongue 8, into undercut recesses at the underside ofthe neighboring portion. The whole forms a running track for two cars 10and 1 1 which are adapted to crawl one over the other when they meet. Onthe braking portions 5 there are provided a pair of parallel-sided walls12 having lugs which are releasably engaged in sockets 13.

Each car has four road wheels, and the two rear wheels are driven by anelectric motor operated by a storage battery carried in the car andconnected to the motor through an on-off switch having an operatinglever 14 depending at the underside. The upper surface of each car isribbed at 15 to provide a good grip for the rubber-tyred wheels of theother car, and has an upstanding ridge 16 at each side for guiding thewheels of the other car.

In each braking portion 5 there is provided a vertical stop lug 17carried at one end of a horizontal lever 18 which is pivoted at 19 andlightly spring-loaded upwardly by a coiled spring 20. On the lever 18,adjacent to the pivot 19, there are provided two wheel pads 21 which arespaced, transversely of the track, so as to be contacted by the wheelsof a car passing along the track. The stop lug 17 and the two wheel pads21 pro; trude upwardly through respective slots in the track surface 6.

The branching-off portions 4 are each provided with a pivoted deflectorblade 22 which can be set manually to divert a car along one or theother of the two arms of the track.

Each car has, on its leading end, a wedge-shaped cam 23, and wheneverthe two cars meet head-on, the cam 23 of one of the cars will ride upand over the cam of the other car, so that the one car will climb up andover the back of the other car.

If the two cars meet head-on whilst on any of the portions 1 to 4 of thetrack, one car will simply climb up and over the back of the other car,and the two cars will pass on their respective ways without stopping.

If one of the cars, marked A in FIG. 3 travels over the brake portions 5it will arrive at a position in which its depending switch lever 14 hitsagainst the raised stop lug 17, thereby halting the-car with its frontwheels in shallow depressions 24 of the track surface 6.

When the other car B arrives it meets car A" head-on and the cam 23 ofcar 3" is higher than that of car A so that car 13" climbs up and overthe back of car A". When car B has passed completely over and againrests in a level position its rear wheels rest on the lugs 21 of thebrake lever, thereby depressing the lever and moving the stop lug 17downwardly until it disengages from the switch lever 14 of car A. Bothcars can thereafter proceed on their way.

Referring to FIG. 2, if car C arrives on a brake portion 5 in thedirection of the arrow, its switch lever 14 contacts the stop lug 17 andthe car is halted. When car D arrives, its front wheels pass onto thelugs 21 of the brake lever, causing the lever to be depressed andlowering the stop lug 17 to release car C. The two cars then movetowards each other and, at the time that they are about to meet, thefront wheels of car C have run up shallow ramps 25 of the track surface6, thereby lifting the front of the car and causing the cam 23 of car Cto be higher than that of car D", whereby car C will ride up and overthe back of car D.

The brake lever 18 of each brake portion of the track has a lug 26 whichprojects laterally through the side wall of the track and which can beoperated manually to depress the lever to release a car which may havebeen halted by the stop lug 17.

The operation is such that each time a car approaches a track portion 5,irrespective of the direction of travel, and is the first'car to arrivethere, it will be stopped in that position until the other car arrives,climbs over its back, and releases the brake. The last two functionsoccur in either order, depending upon the direction in which the firstcar approaches the brake portion 5. if the cars approach each other atany other location, one car will always climb over the other, and bothcars will pass on their way uninterrupted.

I claim:

1. A toy comprising a track adapted to support a wheeled vehicle and toguide it in a closed path, a plurality of powered wheeled vehicles torun on said track, each vehicle being provided at its leading end withcam tion in which it projects above the level of the support surface ofthe track sufficiently to be engaged by a portion of a vehicle, and alowered position in which it is withdrawn from engagement by the portionof the vehicle, and actuator means and coupled thereto, said actuatormeans being positioned on the track so as to be abutted and moved byanother vehicle and thereby lower the stop means to release the firstvehicle.

2. A toy, as claimed in claim 1, wherein said stop means is urged byloading to rest in its raised position.

3. A toy, as claimed in claim 1, wherein the track comprises, at aposition thereof longitudinally between the stop means and the actuatormeans, a depression to receive the front wheels of a vehicle and causethe cam means of that vehicle to be lowered in relation to the cam meansof another vehicle approaching head-on.

4. A toy, as claimed in claim 1, wherein the track comprises, at aposition thereon longitudinally between the stop means and the actuatormeans, a ramp to receive thereon the front wheels of a vehicle and causethe cam means of that vehicle to be raised in relation to the cam meansof another vehicle approaching head-

1. A toy comprising a track adapted to support a wheeled vehicle and toguide it in a closed path, a plurality of powered wheeled vehicles torun on said track, each vehicle being provided at its leading end withcam means adapted to coact with the cam means of another such vehicle,when they meet head-on, and cause the leading end of one vehicle tocommence to ride up and over the leading end of the other vehicle, thevehicles being shaped such that said one vehicle may ride completelyover said other vehicle and own onto the track, said track comprisingstop means having a raised position in which it projects above the levelof the support surface of the track sufficiently to be engaged by aportion of a vehicle, and a lowered position in which it is withdrawnfrom engagement by the portion of the vehicle, and actuator means andcoupled thereto, said actuator means being positioned on the track so asto be abutted and moved by another vehicle and thereby lower the stopmeans to release the first vehicle.
 2. A toy, as claimed in claim 1,wherein said stop means is urged by loading to rest in its raisedposition.
 3. A toy, as claimed in claim 1, wherein the track comprises,at a position thereof longitudinally between the stop means and theactuator means, a depression to receive the front wheels of a vehicleand cause the cam means of that vehicle to be lowered in relation to thecam means of another vehicle approaching head-on.
 4. A toy, as claimedin claim 1, wherein the track comprises, at a position thereonlongitudinally between the stop means and the actuator means, a ramp toreceive thereon the front wheels of a vehicle and cause the cam means ofthat vehicle to be raised in relation to the cam means of anothervehicle approaching head-on.